Page 96 of Dark Obsession

Daniel took the dishes from her.“You did all the cooking.Let us guys clean up.”He nudged her in the direction of the doorway.“Why don’t you go into the living room and lie down until we’re done?”

Keira waited until she was in the living room to press on her temples, where a throbbing pain was gradually increasing.She sat back on the sofa and closed her eyes.She hated that the headaches weren’t lessening as the days passed.Her aspirin was upstairs, and at the moment, she didn’t have the energy to get the bottle.

“Keira.We’ll do this tomorrow night,” Daniel’s concerned voice woke her.

Keira’s eyes snapped open, and she sat up with help from Daniel.“No, I’m sorry.”

Conner scowled.“You don’t have to be sorry, Honey.You’re still recovering.”

“I’m fine.I promise.”Her gaze stayed on Blane and Conner as they pulled papers from their folders and placed them on the table in front of them.

Daniel placed his hand on her thigh.“They’re going to ask you questions about that night.Are you okay with that?”

Keira swallowed, wiped her sweaty hands on her legs, and nodded.“If it helps to catch the guy.”

“Can you tell us about that night?”Blane asked her hesitantly, concern in his tone.

“I think I remember most, if not all of it now.”Keira clutched her hands on her lap and took a shuddering breath.“I came home to get a few things and was planning on heading to a hotel.I couldn’t spend another night of being afraid.”She didn’t feel the substantial tension rise in the air when the men remembered her actually sleeping in the house the night before the attack.“I didn’t hear anything before I felt a hand wrap around my waist and another over my face to keep me quiet.”Anxiety stiffened her body, making her headache worse.

Keira looked at Daniel.His body was turned toward her, there was a throbbing tightness to his jaw, and immense concern darkened his eyes.Her heart softened.He would never know how much his support right then was helping her get through this.She turned back to Blane.“I remembered the pepper spray and knife I’d put in my purse.I dropped the spray, so I went for the knife.I started trying to stab any part of him I could.Sometimes I missed, or he jerked me, and I cut myself.I didn’t feel it at the time.I was so scared I never felt anything but the fear.”

“Adrenaline does that,” Conner answered, his voice gruff with angst.

Keira’s gaze jerked to Conner’s and then nodded.“He talked about wanting to hurt me, and when I started fighting him and cut him a few times, he got angry and started talking about killing me.I threw my hand with the knife back, and I could tell by the feeling and his scream, I got him in the neck, or shoulder, or face.He released me and I ran.I was almost to the door when it crashed in, and I barreled into Conner.He told me to go to the car.I started that way, but I just kept walking.When I heard all the men and sirens, I hid under the stairs.I knew I was losing a lot of blood, but I couldn’t get myself to walk toward people.”

Conner cleared the emotion from his throat.“That’s totally understandable, Keira.You were hurt and scared.I’m just glad I found you when I did.”

Keira reached over Daniel’s lap and squeezed Conner’s hand.“I’m glad, too, Conner.”

“Can you help determine how tall he was?”Blane asked.

Keira glanced down, and her eyes closed for a moment when she looked up to find three sets of eyes, assessing and concerned, fixed on her.“I think my head was even with his shoulder because when I got him that last time, it was like this.”She raised her hand over her shoulder and behind her head.

The men looked at each other.“That would make him around five nine or ten,” Conner said.

“Keira, was there anything about the guy you saw or recognized?Hair color, tattoos?”Blane asked.

She’d been asking herself the same question for days.“He had a mask and gloves on with a long-sleeved shirt, so I couldn’t see his body at all.At first, I thought I recognized his voice.”

Daniel’s arm slid behind her and roamed slowly up and down her back in a soothing manner.“Do you remember where you heard it?”

A cold knot formed in her stomach.“I don’t know.I’ve been wracking my brain, but I can’t remember.”

“Anything else?”Conner asked.

She shook her head, disappointed.“No.”

“Keira, has there been a man in town you’ve gotten a bad feeling about, or seen him do something not normal, or just act strange?”Blane asked.

Keira sat silently for a long moment.“No, I can’t think of anyone.”

“How about Scott Ridley?”

Keira stiffened as her eyes jerked toward Blane.“I had thought about him a time or two, but it definitely wasn’t his voice.”

“Vicki told us he’d been in the store a few times bothering you, asking if you still had a boyfriend?”

“Well, yes.But I really believed he was harmless.”

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